When Governance is reduced to Propaganda

By: Kwabena Amankwah


The ruling National Democratic Congress has so far convinced Ghanaians that it
believes in lies and half-truths – propaganda – as a tool of promoting its
political cause.
Indeed, when the NDC propaganda vehicle is on the road under the instruction of
the chief liar, both the driver and passengers do not care about any other road
user. The vehicle therefore hits its victims without the slightest consideration
of the harm done or the consequence of that atrocity.
It is only when the propagandists find themselves in a tight corner that they
realize the “ungodliness” and unwholesomeness of their actions. Here, they show
NDC’s version of “remorse” by admitting rather shamefully to the whole world
that they told lies and half-truths just in the name of politics.
I hope you have just recollected the episode involving Ama Benyiwa Doe when she
appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
Here was an elderly Christian woman who is supposed to be a role model to the
younger generation of Ghanaian ladies confessing rather shamefully before
Parliament in the full glare of the whole world that she did not mean what she
had been saying on various platforms and that “it was all political talk.”

God save our beloved country Ghana, especially now that we have Regional
Ministers such as Benyiwa Doe who could throw all scruples to the dogs and tell
the whole world that the then ruling party in her country “is cocaine party.”
Again in “setting the records straight”, Fiifi Kwetey could tell such a big lie,
and expect the good people to Ghana to believe, that the entire gold reserve of
the country had be “emptied” by the then ruling New Patriotic Party.
These were just but a few of the lies the NDC told the good people of Ghana
during the 2008 electioneering campaign as part of the diabolical scheme they
executed to return to the corridors of power after eight years in opposition.
Having employed despicable and vile propaganda to achieve their political
mission of winning the 2008 election, one would have expected that the attitude
of the specialist-liars would change, as they ride in the vehicle of governance.
But I am not at all surprised that they have not changed. In fact, doing so
would make the Almighty God a liar – His word makes it clear that the leopard
cannot change the spots on its body. Oh yes, a log in river cannot metamorphose
into a crocodile.

What surprises me a little bit, however, is the fact that even if the NDC cannot
change, can’t they also differentiate between governance and propaganda?
Certainly they can’t. Indeed, if they could they would not reduce governance to
propaganda as we are now witnessing in the country.
Under the 20-month old Mill-Mahama-led NDC administration, Ghanaians have
witnessed a very reckless and unfocused kind of governance which has left many
people in a state of hopelessness and helplessness, wondering about the kind of
direction the nation is going.
Here comes a big confession by NDC Founder, Jerry John Rawlings: “When I speak I
do not speak for myself. I speak for the suffering masses who, though not
expecting magic overnight, also see no light at the end of the tunnel.”
Ghana is now in a complete mess with no hope of seeing light at the end of
tunnel because people who have been appointed by the law professor to manage the
affairs of the nation have not yet settled down to govern; they are still
engaged in propaganda in an attempt to paint the NPP black to the electorate.
They do so forgetting that they are no longer in opposition.

The only tune Mills’ appointees sing on daily basis is “the NPP did this; the
NPP did that”. Even when workers are agitating for better conditions of service,
an action mainly triggered off by the harsh economic realities, they say it is
the NPP, forgetting the reminder they were given when they decided to go for the
IMF’s conditionality-infested financial aids.
Instead of taking his time to study the rationale behind the previous
government’s decision to enter the capital market to issue Eurobonds, and taking
steps to, may be, improve subsequent issues, the propagandist-deputy Finance
Minister, Fiifi Kwetey, thinks the interest of Ghanaians is better promoted if
he continues to engage in his vile propaganda at the Ministry of Finance and
Economic Planning.
That was why he could use a platform provided by Radio Gold to lie to the whole
world that the previous Kufuor government “squandered” the entire amount
realized from the issue of the Eurobonds.

This he said without worries about the fact that his claim made his boss,
Kwabena Duffuor, a liar, having presented a document to the IMF explaining
vividly the utilization of the amount realized. You see what propaganda can
sometimes do.
Even though he could claim there was a so-called criminal intent in the deal,
this propagandist-turned Minister of State could not explain why the “criminals”
involved had not been prosecuted. He could neither explain how the money was
squandered.

To him the issue was not even about investigating the “criminal deal” to bring
the culprits to book but it was all about putting the issue into the public
domain for all to see the “mess” created by the NPP. Is that governance or
propaganda?
Choosing radio to make allegations, as often done be serial callers, instead of
using your power as a minister to investigate how the money was squandered is a
confirmation of the fact that the affairs of the nation is being managed by
mediocre people.
And that is why everything appears not to be working in the country under the
Mills-Mahama administration. Let’s look at what is happening on the labour
front.

Instead of responding with pragmatic and clever plans to deal with the mess,
Ministers of State, such as Hannah Bissiw, think what Ghanaians want to hear is
“it is sabotage from NPP.” To Rojo Mettle-Nunu and his ilk, it takes insults and
abusive language to deal with such situations.

In fact, the attitude of many functionaries of the ruling NDC seem to suggest
that they are not even sure that they are now in government. They therefore
behave as if they are still in opposition, employing propaganda to convince the
electorate for their votes.
Many people in the country, including top NDC functionaries such as founder
Jerry Rawlings, complain incessantly that things have fallen apart in the
country at the moment. What is happening is the direct outcome of reducing
governance to propaganda.
No! No! What we are witnessing in the country now cannot be described as
governance; it is rather propaganda. And the earlier the NDC settled down to
govern, the better it would be for the future of the party and the nation at
large.

Kwabena Amankwah is a member of E/R NPP Communication Committee, member of NPP
Youth Wing Communication Committee and former TESCON-UCC Secretary.
amaskwabena@yahoo.com. 0244-217504